BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 647
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 27, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON REVENUE AND TAXATION
Henry T. Perea, Chair
SB 647 (Committee on Judiciary) - As Amended: June 16, 2011
Majority vote. Fiscal committee.
SENATE VOTE : 38-0
SUBJECT : Civil law: omnibus bill
SUMMARY : Contains numerous civil law provisions authored by the
Senate Judiciary Committee. Specifically, the tax-related
provisions of this bill add amounts due under Welfare and
Institutions Code (W&IC) Section 903.1 to the list of delinquent
fines and penalties that may be referred to the Franchise Tax
Board (FTB) for collection. W&IC Section 903.1, in turn,
imposes joint and several liability on specified individuals,
including parents, for expenses incurred by a county or court
for legal services provided to a minor pursuant to a juvenile
court order.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Allows superior courts, counties, and the state to refer
certain delinquent fines and penalties to the FTB for
collection under guidelines prescribed by the FTB. Once
delinquent for 90 or more days, all of the following may
currently be referred to the FTB:
a) Fines;
b) State or local penalties;
c) Bail;
d) Forfeitures;
e) Restitution fines;
f) Restitution orders; and,
g) Any other amounts imposed by a superior court that are
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due and payable in an amount totaling at least $100, in the
aggregate, for criminal offenses, including all offenses
involving a violation of the Vehicle Code. ÝRevenue and
Taxation Code (R&TC) Section 19280(a)(1)]
2)Specifies that, once the FTB provides a debtor with written
notice, any delinquent amount so referred (plus applicable
interest), shall be treated as due and payable to the state,
and shall be collected from the debtor in any manner
authorized for the collection of a delinquent personal income
tax liability. ÝR&TC Section 19280(c)]
3)Provides that, if a county or court incurs expenses for legal
services provided to a minor pursuant to a juvenile court
order, the following shall be jointly and severally liable for
the cost:
a) The father;
b) The mother;
c) The spouse;
d) Any other person liable for the minor's support;
e) The estate of "that person" (ostensibly meaning any
person named above); and,
f) The minor's estate. ÝW&IC Section 903.1(a)]
4)Specifies that the above-named individuals and estates (with
the apparent exception of the minor's estate) shall also be
liable for any cost to the county or court for legal services
directly rendered in a dependency proceeding to the father,
mother, or spouse of the minor pursuant to a juvenile court
order. ÝW&IC Section 903.1(a)]
5)Directs the Judicial Council to establish a program to collect
reimbursements from those persons liable for the costs of
counsel pursuant to W&IC Section 903.1 in dependency
proceedings. As part of this program, the Judicial Council
must adopt:
a) A statewide standard for determining one's ability to
pay reimbursements for counsel; and,
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b) Policies and procedures allowing courts to recover from
the money collected the costs associated with collecting
delinquent reimbursements. ÝW&IC Section 903.47(a)]
6)Provides that, except as otherwise authorized, the money
collected under this program shall be used to reduce the
caseloads of attorneys appointed by the court. ÝW&IC Section
903.47(a)]
FISCAL EFFECT : The FTB estimates that this bill would not
impact state income tax revenues.
COMMENTS :
1)SB 647 is the Senate Judiciary Committee's omnibus bill. The
Senate Judiciary Committee's own analysis of this bill notes,
"To be considered for inclusion, each provision must be
non-controversial and not be so substantive as to be more
appropriate for a stand-alone bill. If a non-controversial
provision later becomes controversial, that provision will be
removed from the bill."
2)The FTB notes the following in its staff analysis of this
bill:
a) "This bill would allow the FTB to collect specified
legal costs relating to an order of the juvenile court.
Specified legal costs would include the costs for counsel
appointed to represent parents or minors pursuant to
dependency proceedings."
b) "The FTB currently collects fines; Ýsic] state or local
penalties, forfeitures, restitution fines, restitution
orders, or other amounts imposed by a superior or municipal
court of the State of California referred from courts of 43
participating counties and maintains an inventory of
approximately 1.1 million cases. ÝCourt ordered debt]
collection is accomplished primarily through the use of
wage garnishments and bank levies."
c) "This bill would not impact the department's costs
because the cost to the FTB to collect these reimbursements
debts would be deducted from any amounts collected prior to
being distributed. The FTB's Ýcourt ordered debt] system
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can accommodate the increase in the workload that this bill
is expected to generate."
3)Committee Staff Comments:
a) Sponsor and purpose : The Judicial Council is sponsoring
the tax-related provisions of this bill. Specifically, the
Judicial Council states that this proposal "would improve
the ability of the court to generate revenues for court
appointed counsel in dependency matters by . . . providing
courts that use FTB for other court ordered debt
collections with the ability to use their services for this
court-ordered debt as well."
b) Background : In 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger signed
into law AB 131 (Evans), Chapter 413, Statutes of 2009.
Among other things, AB 131 directed the Judicial Council to
establish a program for collecting reimbursements from
persons liable for the costs of counsel appointed to
represent parents or minors pursuant to W&IC Section 903.1.
AB 131 also provided that the money collected under this
program must be used to reduce the caseloads of attorneys
appointed by the court. Unfortunately, Judicial Council
staff notes that the program is currently underfunded, and
that attorney caseloads do not meet the standards
established by the Judicial Council. The Judicial Council
believes that the proposals included in this bill will help
to mitigate the underfunding of this program and will
promote better service for abused and neglected children
and their parents in dependency proceedings.
c) Related legislation :
i) AB 2928 (Spitzer), Chapter 752, Statutes of 2008,
authorized the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation to refer restitution orders to the FTB for
collection, as specified.
ii) AB 367 (De Leon), Chapter 132, Statutes of 2007,
directed the Judicial Council to establish a task force
to evaluate criminal and traffic-related court-ordered
debts imposed against adult and juvenile offenders. AB
367 also lowered the minimum balance requirement for
referral of debts for collection to the FTB to $100.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Judicial Council of California (sponsor of tax-related
provisions)
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : M. David Ruff / REV. & TAX. / (916)
319-2098